In less than a week, many local workers will get a raise as Florida’s minimum wage will increase once again. Starting September 30, 2025, the state’s base wage will increase from $13 to $14 an hour for non-tipped workers, and from $9.98 to $10.98 for tipped employees.
The one-dollar increase is part of a voter-approved plan to raise Florida’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 — a move aimed at keeping up with the rising cost of living in Jacksonville and the rest of the country.
If you are wondering how Florida’s minimum wage stacks up against other states, what tipped and non-tipped workers can expect, which workers are exempt from the raise, and how minimum wage in Florida measures up to Jacksonville’s cost of living, here’s what to know.
What is the minimum wage in Florida?
As of September 25, Florida’s minimum wage is $13 an hour for non-tipped employees and $9.98 for tipped employees. However, on Sept. 30, 2025, that will change to $14 an hour for non-tipped employees and $10.98 for tipped employees.
The state minimum wage was first established in 2004 by another voter-approved amendment “to provide a decent and healthy life for them and their families, that protects their employers from unfair low-wage competition, and that does not force them to rely on taxpayer-funded public services in order to avoid economic hardship.”
There have been efforts to work around the minimum wage. Two bills in the 2025 Florida legislative session would have allowed people working in apprenticeships, internships or work-study programs to choose to work for less, but both bills, SB 676 and HB 541, were postponed and withdrawn along with about 1,300 more as Florida lawmakers focused on the budget.
How much do you need to earn to live comfortably in Jacksonville, FL?
According to an analysis by GOBankingRates, a household needs about $118,000 a year to live comfortably in Jacksonville, factoring in expenses like housing, groceries, transportation, healthcare and savings.
How does the cost of living in Jacksonville compare to the minimum wage?
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Zillow and the Federal Reserve, the study ranked Jacksonville No. 33 out of the 50 largest U.S. cities for the highest income required to maintain a balanced budget and reach what many view as the “American Dream.”
When compared to Florida’s minimum wage, the federal minimum wage remains relatively low at $7.25 per hour, which hasn’t budged since 2009 despite the dramatic increase in the cost of living. The federal minimum wage also includes a lengthy list of exceptions for jobs that can pay less.
What is the federal minimum wage?
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009.
How does Florida’s minimum wage compare to other states?
Most states, including Florida, have set minimum wages higher than the federal rate of $7.25 an hour.At the start of the year, 21 states increased their minimum wages. Michigan also approved a gradual wage increase, similar to Florida’s plan.
While 14 states still follow the federal minimum of $7.25, states like Georgia, Montana and Wyoming allow even lower rates under certain conditions.
Meanwhile, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have no state minimum wage laws at all — meaning the federal rate applies by default.
How is minimum wage for tipped employees calculated in Florida?
Employers of tipped employees must pay their employees minimum wage, but they can count the tips the employees receive toward it, up to the maximum of $3.02. That’s the allowable tip credit established in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 2003. So the direct wage employers must pay is the minimum wage, minus $3.02.
The current minimum wage in Florida is $13 an hour, so the tipped minimum wage is $9.98. Both will go up a dollar each until they reach $15 an hour for non-tipped employees and $11.98 for tipped employees.
Did Trump eliminate the tax on tips?
The final version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed on July 4, among many other things, allows workers in traditionally and customarily tipped industries to deduct up to $25,000 in tips.
However, if a tipped employee’s adjusted gross income goes over $150,000 ($300,00 for joint returns), the tip deduction gets reduced by $100 for every $1,000 over.
The “lines of business” allowed in the bill are:
The tip tax deduction begins in 2025 and may be claimed on the 2025 tax return in 2026. However, the deduction is temporary. It expires Dec. 31, 2028, right before Trump leaves office.
Minimum wage rising in Florida, but not for everyone. Which workers are exempt?
There are certain occupations and situations where the Department of Labor allows exemptions to the federal minimum wage law and employees may be paid less, including:
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Executive, administrative and professional employees
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Commissioned sales employees
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Seasonal or recreational establishment workers
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Minors, under certain circumstances
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Employees with disabilities, under certain situations
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Employees of enterprises with an annual gross income of less than $50,000
What is the living wage in Florida?
The minimum wage is different from a living wage, however, which tries to calculate how much a person needs to earn per hour to afford the necessities — housing, childcare, health care, food, etc. — where they live.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) living wage calculator, the living wage in Florida as of February 2025 is $23.41 an hour for one adult with no children, $38.72 for an adult with one child, $47.53 for an adult with two children and $59.64 for an adult with three children.
Where is minimum wage going up? These states and cities are due for hikes in 2025
Would raising the federal minimum wage affect Florida workers?
Even if it passes, gets signed by President Donald Trump and gets past any legal challenges, it’s unclear if Florida would respond by immediately adopting the new federal minimum wage or simply waiting until the state reaches that level on the time frame it’s already on.
Will the Trump administration or Congress raise the federal minimum wage?
There have been Congressional attempts to raise the federal minimum wage before, all unsuccessful.
On June 10, ultraconservative Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley joined Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch to introduce the “Higher Wages for American Workers Act” which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour starting in January 2026, with future increases tied to inflation. It’s unclear if the bill, currently in committee, will be taken up for a vote.
President Donald Trump said in December 2024, before he took office, that he would “consider” raising the federal minimum wage, and rumors flew in April that he had bumped it to $25 an hour. Not only was that not true, Trump lowered it for some people when he revoked a 2024 executive order that set the minimum wage for federal contractors at $17.75.
During Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders asked him point-blank if he would work to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.
“I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue,” Bessent replied. When asked again, he said simply, “No, sir.”
Which states have the highest minimum wage?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the highest minimum wage in the U.S. is $17.50 an hour in Washington, D.C.
The highest state minimum wage is Washington state, with $16.66. California and parts of New York pay $16.50.
Georgia and Wyoming businesses pay $5.15 an hour, although in Georgia, it only applies to employers of six or more employees. In Montana, businesses with gross annual sales of less than $110,000 pay $4 an hour.
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee have no state minimum wage law.
What was the minimum wage in Florida before voters passed amendments?
Florida’s minimum wage was initially tied to the federal minimum wage created in 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, which set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents, banned oppressive child labor and capped the maximum workweek at 44 hours.
In 2005, Florida voters approved Amendment 5 to establish a state minimum wage over the federal standard. Florida has paid its minimum wage workers more than the federal minimum ever since.
Amendment 5 brought the hourly wage for non-tipped employees to $6.15, a dollar more than the federal minimum at the time, and required the Department of Economic Opportunity to calculate an adjusted state minimum wage rate based on the rate of inflation for the 12 months prior to Sept. 1, based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. There have been several increases since:
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2005: Raised to $6.15 an hour
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2006: Raised to $6.40 an hour
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2009: Raised to $7.21 an hour
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2010: Raised to $7.25 an hour
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2016: After 6 years, raised to $8.05 an hour
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2017: Raised to $8.10 an hour
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2018: Raised to $8.25 an hour
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2019: Raised to $8.45 an hour
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2021: Raised to $10 an hour to meet requirements from the 2020 amendment
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2022: Raised to $11 an hour
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2023: Raised to $12 an hour
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2024: Raised to $13 an hour
Contributing C.A Bridges, and Alexandria Mansfield, Florida Times-Union
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What will the minimum wage be in Florida in 2025?
